IS THIS ONE OF THOSE TIMES A BULLY WAS CAUGHT RED HANDED ON TAPE?June 09, 2012

Still images from video man beating a small boy with a strap or belt after the boy failed to catch a baseball during a game of catch.

LARGER IMAGE OF ABOVE. Still images from video man beating a small boy with a strap or belt after the boy failed to catch a baseball during a game of catch. CLICK TO ENLARGE

(NATIONAL) -- A California water agency director has found himself in some hot legal water and with a lot of unwanted publicity after a video of what are alleged to be his actions in the family back yard went viral.

The man, Imperial Valley Irrigation District Director Anthony Sanchez, 34, was arrested Friday on suspicion of felony child abuse after a neighbor shot and posted on the Internet a video purportedly of Sanchez angrily beating his stepson with what appears to be a belt or strap of some kind after the boy failed to catch a baseball.

Sheriff's Lt. Scott Sheppeard told the Imperial Valley Press here that Sanchez was arrested and was being held on $100,000 bail, although no charges had yet been filed.

The neighbor who did the taping, identified as Oscar Lopez, 35, shot the video through a window of his home with the man who was doing the beating evidently unaware that his actions were being filmed.

After the man on the video has hit the boy hard several times with the strap or belt and the boy appears in distress – and also appears to be crying and pleading for the larger man to stop - the neighbor doing the taping can be heard on the audio track yelling to the man doing the beating to stop saying, “That’s enough ****stick! That’s enough! I’m havin’ a problem with you beatin’ the s**t out of him because he won’t catch the damn ball!”

The man doing the beating appears to stop when he hears the voice and engages in conversation with the neighbor.

The neighbor doing the taping tells the man doing the beating there is a better way to teach a boy how to catch a ball than beating him.

At one point the neighbor doing the videotaping challenges the man who was doing the beating to come over and try to teach him to catch a ball the same way he is trying to teach the young boy.

The report in the Imperial Valley Press says Sanchez is cooperating in the investigation into the alleged child abuse that reportedly occurred Wednesday morning.

Mr. Lopez is quoted in the report as saying he’s happy people are becoming aware that the incident took place, adding that he did not start taping from the beginning of the incident as he thought it was the parents’ right to discipline their child.

He said he would hear raised voices, then the ball hitting the fence behind the kid and that things “got out of line.”

Lopez said he kept hoping the man would stop what he was doing, but he didn’t.

Finally, Lopez says he began pounding on the window from which he was taping, nearly breaking it before opening it up and shouting down at the man.

“That’s enough, me, yeah me,” he said, screaming down at the man in the video, trying to get his attention.

“You have a problem with the way I’m raising my kid?” Mr. Lopez says Sanchez responded.

“Yeah, I have a (expletive) problem with you beating the (expletive) out of him because he can’t catch the damn ball,” Lopez replied.

After the video was posted on the Internet several people commended Mr. Lopez for stepping in, calling him a hero for bringing an end to the beating of the boy.

One commenter wrote:

“Mr. Lopez you're a HERO. I have a 6yr old son and I'm a tough Dad who coaches LL baseball. Also, I'm a step-son and there's a difference when its your own, BELIEVE ME...I've been that little boy.

And even though I want my son to mind, I WOULD NEVER BEAT HIM LIKE I WAS BEATEN. I bet if that little boy was HIS own child, he'd never raised a hand.

Mr. Lopez, you took the words right out of my mouth, "Why Don't You come over here and TEACH ME!".